CIMCIM Call for Papers ‘Global Crises and Music Museums: Representing Music after the Pandemic’

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has arguably caused the biggest disruption to the museum and heritage sector since the Second World War. All over the world, museums have had to close, some never to reopen, and many have had to suspend their operations for prolonged periods. However, the disruption has also invited – sometimes forced – substantial changes in the way museums perceive themselves and their interactions with their audiences. This has included an increased focus on digital offers, a reconsideration of the human relationships with external as well as internal stakeholders, new ways to guarantee the preservation, documentation and availability of collections and revised financial and sustainability planning. Some of these changes will be transitory, while others are likely to leave permanent footprints on the identity of museums and the way they operate even after the emergency has passed. This conference will highlight and discuss some of the initiatives and innovations that emerged from the past year, with particular attention to curatorship, conservation, learning and participation, and documentation and research. Critical perspectives, as well as case studies are invited to focus on the long-term impact of the pandemic and on the way the identity of music museums, their value and relevance to society and research, and their ways of operating internally and externally may have been transformed. CIMCIM 2021 Conference Organising Committee Gabriele Rossi Rognoni (Royal College of Music, London, UK) Mimi Waitzman (Horniman Museum and Gardens, London, UK) Marie Martens (The Danish Music Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark) Arnold Myers (University of Edinburgh and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, UK) Jen Schnitker (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA)